Posted on 03/24/2008 12:20:05 PM PDT by Ombudsman
Obama acknowledges, with no small irony, that he benefits from his race.
If he were white, he once bluntly noted, he would simply be one of nine freshmen senators, almost certainly without a multimillion-dollar book deal and a shred of celebrity. Or would he have been elected at all?
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
But whites can be called Whitey, Honky, Soda Cracker, etc etc etc. My son was playing at McDonald’s when he was a little kid. A little black girl was playing there too, and she kept calling my son YOU WHITE BOY. She was only about 5 or 6. My son didn’t respond. The girl’s older brother who was about 8 scolded her and told her that was not nice and to stop saying it, and asked her how she would like it if my son called her a little black girl. I thought the older brother was right and he was smart to nip it in the bud. They were all playing, race had not been a problem or an issue. They were all playing nice. It was nice that the older brother set the little sister straight. Then they all three went back to playing. My son was shocked, since he would never call someone a name because of their ethnic group.
Yeah, once again — I’m looking for a QUOTE from Obama himself.
Not just a statement from a journalist, not just from an article that simply dangles the claim that he once BLUNTLY noted this but then does not elaborate at all.
Sure, I am not blind or stupid; I can see the similarities in what Ferraro said and what this journalist claims that Obama said...allegedly...at some point or another...but he’s not saying what Obama’s exact words were...
I want the “money quote,” dammit.
Also, you can’t really pin the date of 2005 on your “QUOTE OBAMA/END QUOTE” either.
Yeah, the article was written in 2005. And the article states that Obama once “bluntly noted” something. It could have happened in 2005 or anytime before that.
I want to have the quote. The exact words Obama said, when he said them, where he said them, and in what context he said them in. I want all of the incriminating evidence.
Hey Roger,
You might think you’re a rocket scientist, but I wouldn’t bet (insure) your launch.
Yes Roger... could have been before 2005, but not much before as he was elected in Nov. 2004. So knock yourself out. That’s meaningless, and as the story was in 2005, it was a solid reference point. Get it?
As for the exact quote, go ask Jeff Zeleny. Someone just might, like Geraldine Ferraro, or James Carville or one of their go-getters, as their camp has been informed.
Now, if the quote isn’t exactly the same, then it is pretty damn close, or the journalist could find himself in pretty hot water. My bet is it is.
Your bet?
Yet, his campaign screams & yells for Ferraro’s resignation for saying the same thing. That reminds me that a black person can call another black person “nigger” with no consequences but have a white person call a black person the same thing then there’s hell to pay. This is what happened with Ferraro. Plus, the RATS do it to PUBS all the time.
“You might think you’re a rocket scientist”
Cheap shot, buddy. When did I ever make any claim like that?
We are on the same side here. Really, we are.
However, a blurb, without quote marks around it, from a single journalist in a single article, means nothing in terms of rock-solid evidence. Nothing at all. Without any corroborating evidence or a specific, verifiable quote, Obama could simply say “I never said that” and that would be that. You can’t just say, well, journalist Jeff Zeleny (who?)...said in some article in 2005 that Obama said...etc. etc.
It doesn’t work that way.
We are on the same side. Both of us are betting that this journalist’s claim is probably true. But I think that some folks here have their analytical abilities clouded by their political biases and their fervent hopes that Obama really did say something like this (which then become their beliefs that he did, then quickly become their TRUTHS, bulletproof evidence be damned).
However, you can’t just say “Obama once bluntly noted this” and expect it to really stick UNLESS you have EXACTLY what Obama said, you can prove he said it, and you have a date and a location to back it up. Period. Otherwise it’s just leaves rustling in the wind. No storm.
I’m sure Geraldine Ferraro will accept the Chosen One’s apology.
“I know if I’m in an all-black audience that there’s going to be a certain rhythm coming back at me from the audience. They’re not just going to be sitting there, ‘Obama said’. That creates a different rhythm in your speaking.”
Isn’t that racist!
Black people have more rhythm — only good for singing, tap-dancing and basketball.
I thought that was a ‘no no’ O-Bammy!
Maybe Obama was just having one of those Steve Marten moments!
By the way, I play the drums.
Ya think I might have more ‘rhythm’ than most black guys, Obama?
To liberals, like Obama, it’s all about race and protected “special” groups.
They just won’t let the old Frankenstein die.
I see you picked the same quote I did .......you just can't make this stuff up!
Roger...apologies...
Let’s start again.
When the journalist boldly states “If he were white, he once bluntly noted,” it indicates the journalist has a high degree of certainty. A journalist cannot know this could be of super relevance in the future, and journalists do not go quoting all the time. They write stories. If he were clairvoyant Jeff Zeleny would have quoted Obama... and then again, maybe not.
It does indicate Zeleny has this information somewhere.
It does indicate a very, very high degree of confidence Obama said this.
It does allow a political opponent to take the senator to the mat, even as this article is written. If the NY Times can run with former aides to McCain “thinking he might have had an affair”, and scored a Front Page story, this could do likewise. (LOL; not holding my breath though).
It does mean someone may have to do the last inches of legwork, but that quote from Jeff Zeleny’s article indicates the Obama Team has stepped in it pretty good once again.
I don’t think you need the precise quote, just the line from the journalist and let HIM defend it... if he is wrong.
I have an inkling he didn’t misquote or misrepresent Obama, just by the confidence with which he framed the paragraph.
Agreed, you might be able to start a NYT-style smear campaign with this (never mind that the smear is probably actually true and that the campaign probably wouldn’t be very successful because it’s against a Dem instead of a Republication, but I digress).
Yeah, journalists write stories. And unfortunately, that’s all this will be — a story — unless a specific, exact quote surfaces. You’ll need to do a 1:1 match. We have Ferraro’s exact words. We need Obama’s exact words also. It can’t just be some obscure 2005 reference from one particular journalist (and no others, at least not that I can find by Googling), making a non-specific claim that Obama said something, without having proof of the exact words that Obama said.
We will agree to disagree.
But, I also bet the journalist, and perhaps others have the quote(s) in their notes.
Then again, after the Scooter Libby trial, we learned some journalists have poor memories and notes.
Yeah, I’d sure like to see the real goods.
THAT might be something.
However, I doubt that since journalist Jeff Zeleny also worked for the NYT, he’s going to freely give up that information! So all we are going to have here is this blurb from him without a bona fide quote.
Putting it in the public domain is one way to do it. If say a Mark Levin runs with it. Then Zeleny would be pressed to back up or be flogged.
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